Martinsburg gazette. (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1886-1887, 1887-03-04
LASS0ING A LION.
A WYOMING COWBOYS THRILL
ING ADVENTURE.
Meeting Three Large Mountain
Lions and Wounding One With
a Pistol shot Lassoing the
Brute-A Wild Galtop.

had decidedly startling adventure, re-
marked young man, the ether day, IN
presence of q San Francisco Cal re
porter. And, subsequently, upon being
questioned by the latter, he told The
following remarkable but well-authcntl-
Gated tale: / was in the employ OF cat
tleman-ln short, cowboy and
besides q natural love Of adventure,
which had graf fed for several years,
had, no doubt, imbibed some Of that
spirit Of utter recklessncss which charac-
terizes the class Of which was, for the
time being, member. Early one bright
morning my employer Sc { me out to
look for some horses which had strayed.
he thought, somewhere in tie vicinity Of
Lance Creek (about 800 miles north of
CHEYENNE only few miles from where
we were then encamped. Mounted on my
stout, little broncho. or COW pony"
soon reached the creek, and rode slowly
along its banks, keeping sharp lookout
for the missing animis- The banks OF
the creek were fringed with cottonwood
and poplar trees, intermiaSled with
clumps of osiers and !, dense under
growth but on either SIDE the country
was open and billy. Experience had
taught me to be suspicious Of any tree or
bush in that section large enough to-
ambush human Icing; for, to say moth
ing of white de peradocs, Sioux and
Cheyenne Indians from the Pine Ridge
Agency were frequently met with, and,
though pro essedly at peace, were not to-
be trusted. onsequentls, as ! rode
along. / from time to time peered anx-
iously in among the trees and under
b nsh.
b d followed the course of the creek
several miles when suddenly my pony
snoitcd and jumped tosone side, almost
unseatlng me. Perhaps ten PAGES in front
of me, crouched as il ready to spring,
were three large mountain hons. / had
always had great desire 10 meet one of
these creatures in his native wilds: but
this was trifle too much Of good thing
to snit ME. Without seconds thought,
however, whipped out my Colts revolt
ver-the only weapon had and fire
at the group. At the report OF my pis
tol two Of them bounded OF through the
undcrbrush and were soon out of sight,
and the other, uttering shrill scream,
writhed for seco id on the ground and
then attempted to follow his companions,
limping badly.
My blood was up; two of the fine crea-
lures had taken tight, and without re-
ficcting upon the possible consequences,
put spurs to my pony and dashed after
the wounded ION. Moving so rapidly,
knew it would lie imposs. bile to shoot
with any accuracy, and there was great
danger Of the lion turning on me If I ap-
proached too near Suddenly it flashed
through my mind: Why can't lasso
him, us have h ard OF gauchos doing
on the Ssuth American pampas!
Attached tony saddle was my braided
rawhidc lasso--about forty feet in length
in the use of which had, as every
cowboy must, become quite pro cicnt
One end Of it was firmly attached to the
pommel Of my saddle, and the remainder
of it, carefully coiled up, was tied to the
front of the saddle by means of couple
of rawhidc strings or thongs Hastily
christening the latter without checking
my pony, which was evidently mush ex-
cited and inclined to sheer away from
the lion prepared for the throw. had
| used my lasso so much frequently, doing
little else but lasso or rope cattle for
weeks together that it was but the work
Of moment. Carefully measuring the
distance with my eye, Whiiled the
lasso several times around my head, and,
at what seemed the proper moment, let
fly. The instant il left my hand my
! pony, as ne had been trained, stopped sud
denly. and braccd back, almost upon his
launches. My calculations had been
| correct
| saw the rope settle around the lions
neck and the next instant, when he
reached the end Of it. and tightening it
threw him on his ba K, he uttered the
i most aDDallinu scream If was eyer M tot